This Press release was written by Dr. Wielgus as a private citizen and does not express the positions of Washington State University.

Four years ago the Washington State Legislature tasked and funded me to determine 1.) the extent of wolf livestock depredations in WA, 2.) possible contributing factors, and 3.) possible mitigating factors – to reduce livestock depredations in WA.

Here are the verifiable facts concerning wolf livestock depredations obtained from my WSU radio-telemetry data of wolves and livestock, date and time stamped video records of wolves and livestock, and public records from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife*.

Using intensive radio-telemetry of livestock overlapping wolf home ranges: among 11 different cooperating herds studied over 2 years – zero of 764 radio-tagged livestock were killed by wolves. Among this sample of cooperating ranchers, fewer than 1% of estimated livestock losses were due to wolf depredations.

Using extensive radio-monitoring of 5 wolf packs monitored over 3 years (15 wolf pack years) and examination of 444 wolf kill sites: 9 of 15 packs had zero wolf livestock kills at 444 kill sites and 3 of 15 packs had < 5% livestock kills. For the remaining 3 packs with more than 5% kills, one had 16% and another had 23% – and sheep comprised most of these kills. The Profanity Peak pack had 67% livestock kills. Among this sample of wolf packs, including the Profanity Peak outlier, fewer than 7% of wolf kills were livestock.

Re: the numerous livestock depredations by the profanity Peak Pack. Using radio-telemetry and date and time stamped video surveillance, livestock were documented to be concentrated in the immediate vicinity of the Profanity pack den and rendezvous site. Salt blocks were also observed within 200 meters of the den. Several days after livestock arrived at the den-site, wolves began depredating the livestock, and numerous livestock were eventually killed by wolves. After failure of subsequent non-lethal interventions to deter livestock depredations the wolf pack was lethally controlled.

Re; Preventative measures taken in the Profanity Peak Pack. The rancher involved did not sign and abide by the terms of a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Cooperative Damage Prevention Agreement* prior to lethal control of wolves. (See Profanity Peak Post Action report, Appendix 1, Wolf-Livestock Conflict Prevention/Reduction Activities and Associated Expectations, “Avoiding Den and Rendezvous Sites” See paragraph 4, page 14 here. Using radio-telemetry and date and time stamped video surveillance, cattle remained in high use wolf core areas (den and rendezvous site) during the depredations and salt blocks remained in these areas until after lethal control of wolves began. Cattle remained in high use wolf core areas before, during and after wolf lethal control actions.

In summary, wolf livestock depredations were not widespread and chronic in wolf-occupied areas of Washington. Instead, wolf livestock depredations appear to be rare and acute, with multiple depredations occurring in particular situations, such as described for Profanity Peak.

These results were reviewed by WSU graduate committees, independent outside members of the committees, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Director of the School of Environment at WSU. Raw data and observations were shared with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. These results will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals in summer 2017.

I recommend to WDFW, the WAG, and ranchers in WA to sign, and/or abide by the terms of the WDFW Cooperative Damage Prevention Agreements to reduce wolf livestock depredations. Failing that, I recommend that WDFW consider that future lethal control of wolves on public lands, for livestock depredations on public lands, be conducted only on behalf of ranchers that sign and/or abide by the terms of a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Cooperative Damage Prevention Agreement – in order to provide further incentives for non-lethal preventative measures. These recommendations could prevent similar events as happened in fall 2016 and in previous years.

I wish to thank all the cooperating and non-cooperating ranchers in Washington, the Washington State Legislature, and my research partners at WDFW, USFS, USFWS, and Colville Confederated Tribes that made this research possible.

*Signatories to Damage Prevention agreements have access to den site location and are expected to avoid such areas if possible.
Agreements are tailored to individual producer situations, including availability of alternative grazing sites to avoid core wolf activity centers (pup-rearing den and rendezvous sites) and WDFW-radio-collared wolf monitoring information.

Reblogged this on Focus on Animals, Art & the Mindful Life and commented:
Here is the original post from In the Shadow of the Wolf about the Profanity Peak Pack and a study that indicates predation on livestock is minimal – seems that livestock are being intentionally placed near den sites by some very cruel people.

As long as livestock remains on the landscape the wolves will not be spared. Sad but true. We can hope to at least see a future where wildlife takes precedence over livestock on our public lands. Certainly this atrocity has shed much needed light on the situation. Thank you very much, Susan.

Here is a clear reason why politicians can not manage wild life. They only hear ranchers , and in this case a pack of wolves lost their lives because this repeat offender chooses to live above the laws and would rather see wild life pay for his reckless placements of his cattle then do the recommendations and peacefully co-exist. There should be fines in place for placing cattle in wolves den sites and refusing to abide by the recommendations that have been proven to work.

State wildlife managers have killed seven wolves in the pack since August. An eighth wolf was believed to have died from “natural causes” (this I do not believe, not for one minute). The pack was reduced in size from 11 or 12 members to three or four. I believe just one pup survived. If they are still in the area, I do not know, as the cattle were removed from the area for winter, and WDFW suspended any efforts at that time (September). Spring grazing season is nearly upon us, if any remaining pack members are still in the area, I am hopeful we will get an update, although it is quite possible that another pack may move into the area. You can find more information in this final update from WAG: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzXe63D0W21AYmx5c09Jc3B4LTg/view?usp=drivesdk
Will we ever find out if any members of the Profanity Peak pack survived the winter, I do not know. An absolute travesty.
Thank you Nena.

Beyond belief. Email just in from Alanna Ellis on behalf of R. Mittelhammer Dean, CAHNRS, WSU:

WSU is aware that one of its faculty, Dr. Ron Weilgus, issued an email and attached “press release” to you on March 27, 2017. To be unequivocally clear, the opinions expressed in that email and attachment are strictly the personal opinions of Dr. Weilgus. They do not reflect the opinions or views of Washington State University.

WSU will review the communication to determine whether university policies and/or state laws related to lobbying and the use of public resources for private purposes are implicated.

WSU supports, and continues to support, the agreed process, mission, and mandate of the Wolf Advisory Group established by the WDFW.